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MillimeterHD Camcorder in the Middle East
Mar 13, 2007 5:00 PM, By Darroch Greer
Jeffrey Kramer, director of video production for Kramer Communications in Bowie, Md., normally shoots industrial films, training films, and sporting events. His clients include the federal government, CBS and Fox Sports, as well as the Prince George County Fire Department for whom he volunteers.
Recently, though, Kramer had the opportunity to work further away, as a friend introduced him to an opportunity to go to Amman, Jordan, to document the training of the 35th class of Iraqi cadets at the Jordan International Police Training Center. He jumped at the chance to make a documentary during his trip, knowing it would allow him a unique view into one side of the Iraq conflict. His documentary, The Price of Freedom, is currently in postproduction. Kramer wants his distribution to be as wide as possible. His first goal is to finish the film. He is all but positive that his Arab co-producer will get it broadcast in the Middle East—probably Al Jazeera. He's already talked to Discovery and some film festivals, but he figures he still has another 30 days work on it.
Though he owns multiple camera systems, Kramer decided to upgrade to HD acquisition for the trip in December last year.
“I was making an investment, and I wanted to come back with the best possible footage and to make it as marketable as possible,” he explains. “The reason I chose to shoot it HD is I want to make it marketable. Also, I think HD adds a lot of depth. From a picture perspective, it makes color and clarity and the whole scene pop. It just adds so much to it.
“I wasn’t going to come back with standard def,” he continues. “If you’re not shooting 9:16, and you’re not shooting in high-def these days, nobody’s going to look at your stuff, especially if you want to get it into the broadcast market. The other thing is, I could always take it down to standard def—I could always go from 9:16 to 4:4.”
Kramer chose the Canon XH A1 HD (See the March issue of Digital Content Producer for a review of the XH A1.) camcorder for the project. He has long been partial to Canon because of his previous success with the XL1, which was his first professional camera. But cost was also a factor for Kramer. He didn’t think it made sense to invest many thousands of dollars in a camera he was taking to a dangerous part of the world. He also wanted something small and unobtrusive that would not draw a lot of attention.
“I looked at other cameras,” he says. “There is such diversity in terms of what they offer. I looked one camera that shot only 24p, whereas this A1 shot 24p and shot 1080i. I thought, I could have the best of both worlds. Then, it also shot DVCAM. Plus, because I was doing interviews, I needed something that gave me quality sound and I needed XLR inputs into the camera. That was another issue. I could not go out with a camera that didn’t have XLR. This one did.”
Kramer tested the camera over the course of a month before he went overseas, using it to document training, as well as real emergency situations during his work as a volunteer fireman. Then, once he arrived in Amman, there was a snafu with his permission papers and Jordanian officials, which took two weeks to clear up. During that time, however, he interviewed Iraqi refugees, got the lay of the land, and took several trips to the top of Mt. Nebo to capture the stunning vistas of the Jordan Valley and beautiful sunsets over Jerusalem and the Dead Sea.
Finally, the camera was put through its paces, and shooting in the desert was a particular challenge.
“Lighting is an issue,” Kramer says. “What I found was that, because I was shooting out in the desert, if the light reflection changed abruptly, things can get pixilated.” (You can see it faintly in some of his footage of soldiers marching as the harsh light dances off their equipment.) “I think that HD is more sensitive to light than standard def.”
Probably the feature that impressed him most in the field was the auto-focus capability.
“I was very concerned, based on my communications and my own experience with HD cameras, how important focus is,” Kramer recalls. “You don’t want to come in shooting soft, or your whole clip is ruined. So, I had to be real careful about getting a camera that can assist me in assuring that my shots are in focus. I looked at another camera, and the problem was you were never sure whether you were in focus or not. I looked at [a third camera], and it would give you a kind of outline to show you that you were in focus, but this one automatically focuses to show that you’re in focus, and it’s almost flawless.
“I was able to do things like a lot of rack focusing to generate the emotion of the scene,” he continues. “I videotaped some mountainous areas, and I did a little rack focus to bring it into focus, and it was like a flawless measure. You take your o-ring; take it out of focus, and it automatically goes back into focus. No human hand could have done a better job than what that camera does.”
Kramer also brought along a consumer Canon HV10 to supplement his main camera. He was pleased that footage from the two cameras was often indistinguishable.
“There were times you could tell that the pictures didn’t match,” he says. “A lot of it depends on the lighting, but I would say there were a lot of times I did not need it to be color-corrected. It’s almost identical, the HV10. And it’s a great second-shooter. I bought the HV10 to accompany the XH A1. The two of them worked in tandem. They were great teammates. I was able to take a podium shot at a ceremony that I did, and I was able to go around and shoot cutaways of other things, while that camera sat there on a tripod. When I put it into post, you couldn’t tell the difference between the two cameras.”
To view segments from The Price of Freedom, go to www.kramercommunications.tv.
